Data Bites #53

The 53rd Data Bites - the fourth at Public Digital, after 49 at the Institute for Government - featured four very different presentations, but with common themes including thinking about users, data as a service, standards, future proofing and maintenance, and the importance of working in the open.

You can watch this session just below on YouTube or listen via SoundCloud.

Data Bites is a monthly meet-up designed to showcase interesting data projects in and around the public sector. Four brilliant speakers each get eight minutes to present – there are eight bits in a byte, hence eight minutes in a Data Bite – followed by eight minutes of Q&A. You can sign up for the next one – join us in person in London or online at 6pm on Thursday 3 April.

Duncan, head of software engineering at the Incubator for AI (i.AI), explored what a federated approach to data sharing, access and use might look like, drawing inspiration from Richard Pope’s Platformland, (previous speaker) Ben Goldacre’s National Data Library blueprint, and elsewhere.

See Duncan’s slides.

Elliot, Senior Data and Insights Analyst at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (making his second appearance at Data Bites), talked about the HFEA’s (award-winning) dashboard, which allows users to explore fertility statistics.

See Elliot’s slides.

We also ask our speakers – if they have time! – to answer a standard set of questions. Here are Elliot’s answers:

• Can you summarise your project in a few sentences?

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) launched what is thought to be the first fertility dashboard of its kind in the world. The dashboard offers access to accurate and customisable UK-wide data dating back 30 years from the HFEA’s national fertility register in an accessible format on the HFEA website. The dashboard displays information on fertility treatments such as egg freezing and birth rates, patients, partners, donors and children born as a result of these treatments. This includes around 1.5 million IVF and 275,000 donor insemination treatments undertaken by around 700,000 patients since 1991.

• What problem are you trying to solve?

It takes our team significant time and resources preparing data to respond to queries from other teams, organisations, researchers, and members of the general public. This dashboard was intended to help with responding to these queries, by making the most commonly requested data publicly available in a simple and clear format.

• What difference will it make to citizens?

Fertility patients undergo complex treatments, and often struggle to find reliable data to guide their decision-making. The dashboard provides data which can be trusted by patients and presents it in an easy-to-understand format. Additionally, data from the dashboard is being used to guide research and policy development, helping citizens in less direct ways.

• How will you know when it’s succeeded?

When the dashboard is being used routinely by both technical and non-technical audiences, to answer data questions, guide policy development, and help people better understand fertility treatment.

• What are the main hurdles?

This project represented a significant increase in the scale of data we publish. As such, it required significant work gaining buy-in both internally and from external stakeholders. There were also hurdles around user testing, ensuring the dashboard was accessible for individuals with disabilities, and keeping the data anonymous in spite of the dashboard’s customisability.

• If you could change one thing about data in government, what would it be?

Greater openness around sharing (non-identifying) data between organisations, and consistency in data publishing between the different UK nations. Our work spans the whole of the UK, and we often find that datasets which exist for one nation do not exist in another or present data differently.

• Additional links

Dashboard webpage: HFEA dashboard | HFEA
Press release: HFEA launches new fertility data dashboard, thought to be the first of its kind in the world | HFEA
News coverage included here, and more about the award it won is here

Amanda, director at Public Digital, presented on Data Service Standards, including examples from several different cities in the Americas.

See Amanda’s slides.

Andy Dudfield, head of AI at Full Fact (who previously presented when he worked for the ONS), concluded the event by talking about the importance of factchecking and thinking about factchecking as data.

See Andy’s slides.

If you’d like to present at a future Data Bites, or would like to recommend someone, please get in touch!

Photos by Paul Clarke.